Greg Mortenson to be sued by tribesmen he said kidnapped him

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Greg Mortenson, the author and philanthropist accused of fabricating large parts of his autobiographical writings, is to be sued by the Pakistani tribesmen he claimed kidnapped him.

In his bestselling books about building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, one of the most startling stories tells how he was kidnapped by the Taliban and held hostage in Waziristan, the most dangerous part of Pakistan's western tribal border area with Afghanistan. A photograph in one book showed him with a dozen tribesmen, some armed, who were supposedly holding him captive.

However, as with much else in the books, Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, the tale is unravelling, following a US television exposé earlier this week.

Mansur Khan Mahsud, who featured in the photograph, said that Mortenson came to his village of Kot Langer Khel, in the Laddah area of South Waziristan, in July 1996. Mahsud, who is the research director of a thinktank in Islamabad that specialises in the tribal area, said that the Taliban did not appear on the Pakistani side of the border until 2002, following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/20/greg-mortenson-sued-tribesmen-kidnapped

[Arctic Dave]

1. Everything about Afghanistan is a farce. nt

[KG]

2. heh. i recall being scolded on DU by some that pointed to that book as a sign of how great things

going there. :rofl:

[Igel]

3. Their argument's not undermined..

Not at least to the extent they relied on this book.

First, many of the negative things he claimed were false. Presumably, it would seem. For example, his kidnapping.

Second, the schools that he says were built were, it would also seem, built. Just not by his organization. In at least some cases, the schools were built by official aid organizations.

This doesn't mean things are going great there, just as his memoirs having more that a dollop of fiction in them doesn't mean things are going badly.

His problem was one of self-aggrandizement. He saw himself as more of a messiah and savior than he was, and took others' glory to himself.